Arabian Nights: Volume 1, the Restless One

“An up-to-the minute rethinking of what it means to make a political film today, Gomes’s shape-shifting paean to the art of storytelling strives for ‘a fictional form from facts.’ Gomes turns actual events into the stuff of fable, and channels it all through the mellifluous voice of Scheherazade, the mythic queen of the classic folktale. Volume 1 alone tries on more narrative devices than most filmmakers attempt in a lifetime, mingling material about unemployment and local elections with visions of exploding whales and talking cockerels. It is hard to imagine a more generous or radical approach to these troubled times, one that honors its fantasy life as fully as its hard realities.”—New York Film Festival. In Portugese, French and German with English subtitles.